Stress management at work 'can boost health and productivity'

Introducing stress management programmes into the workplace can help boost employees' health and improve their productivity, a new study has found.

A stress management programme that lasted for a year resulted in lower perceived stress than baseline scores, the research discovered.

The study was printed in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Dr Massimo Pagani, senior author of the study and professor of medicine at the University of Milan in Italy, said: "We were able to achieve these results in a working environment, without impinging on productivity, and with zero cost to the company."

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The research was carried out using 91 office workers from the DuPont subsidiary in Italy, all of whom reported being stressed.

A group of 79 health volunteers who claimed to be completely free of stress were used as the control group.

Workers said that after the stress management training they felt more relaxed and less tired than previously.

Over 420,000 workers in Britain reported being stressed in 2005, according to statistics from the Health and Safety Executive.

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